Book Tour: “Polymer Clay Beads” is Coming to Seattle
I had an excellent time teaching my Introduction to Polymer Clay class at The Crucible recently. I get so focused on my latest technique or project and it’s nice to return to where it all starts by giving people their first experience with the material or just opening their eyes to some of it’s possibilities.
It is in that spirit that I return to Seattle, a city that holds a special place in my heart, to talk about my new book, “Polymer Clay Beads”. I’ll be giving a slide show to the Northwest Bead Society along with my talk, covering my history with polymer clay, the process of creating the book, and the state of the medium today.
The talk will be at 7pm at the Greenwood Masonic Lodge, 7910 Greenwood Ave N, Seattle WA. I’ll be looking forward to returning to my old stomping grounds and seeing good friends, including Cynthia Toops and Dan Adams as well as long time buddies from my alma mater.
New Websites from “Polymer Clay Beads” Artists
I plan to say more about these two great artists later, but for the time being, be sure not to miss the new website and blog from Dan Cormier and the excellent Polymer Art Archive from Elise Winters, which features a look back at the young history of polymer clay from the viewpoint of insiders and fellow “Polymer Clay Beads” artists Elise, Lindly Haunani, Kathleen Dustin and more. Elise has a fantastic cache of imagery and recently shared these great images of the work of Cynthia Toops, who I will have the good fortune to see when I go to Seattle next week to speak to the Northwest Bead Society.
The first shot is a step by step and a great insight into Toops layer by layer graphic process. I don’t know about you, but I’m always a sucker for the sea. Check out Toops’ gorgeous anemone necklace:
New Jewelry
I’m still making jewelry, though I have been busy with other things lately. As soon as I started my blog I found myself making a career expansion, and not having the time to blog that I had hoped for. Studio time is harder to come by too, but I have managed to put together some new jewelry and take some photos too.
You can see more here.
I am in the beginning stages of cleaning out my studio in order to finish it properly and am not sure when I’ll be back in making work. So I hope you enjoy these. I’ll be bringing some of this jewelry with me to Seattle next week.
Art Inspired by the Book”Polymer Clay Beads”
I’ve put all my bead secrets (save precious few) down on paper and out in the world now. I worked hard for this information and now I’m giving it away. How will I stand out in the crowd if the crowd suddenly all looks like me?
First off, I’ll have to keep moving. Ever onwards is my preference and plague anyways so with luck that won’t be a problem. Most of all, I have to have faith that the information that I’m sharing is of a quality to allow other artists to truly express themselves, and to make my techniques their own.
Today I present to you the first examples of work inspired by my book “Polymer Clay Beads.”
Polymer Clay Noted: Susan Lomuto of Polymer Clay Notes doesn’t post much of her own work, preferring instead to share her inspirations and inspired reviews of other people’s art. I’m happy to see that my book moved her to reveal these beautiful photos of some really gorgeous vessels and cuff bracelets inspired by my tutorial on textured polymer clay beads. I love that the first thing I see coming back to me from the book is something using my technique but not my design. Bravo Susan! Read her posts about the work here and here.
Reader Dee Wilder sends these fantastic shots of beads made using my Recursive Molded Beads tutorial. You can see more here. These are beads made using my latest technique. It is a cross between die forming, mold and model making, and sculpture and it is tons of fun. I call them recursive beads because they are also in a sense made from each other. Nice beads Dee! I am myself hard at work on the latest generation of beads stemming from this technique..
The Best Bead Show, Tucson AZ, Feb 6th-10th 2008
That’s right, they don’t get any better than the Best Bead Show, which begins a week from today in Tucson AZ. Every February, the city hosts the largest gathering of bead, jewelry, gem, and mineral shows in the world. Fifty shows are officially scheduled for this year, along with a host of other associated business that doesn’t make the Tucson Show Guide. The show guide is the one stop shop for information on the many shows happening, but it can be overwhelming. Go no further than the Best Bead Show if what you seek is the latest beads from the world’s best contemporary bead artists.
It took a couple years on the waiting list before I got a spot in this show and I intend to hang on to it. This is front row in a marketplace that each year attracts 750,000 buyers from around the world. The show was started and is run by Lewis Wilson, a skilled glass lampworker and one of the central supporters of a thriving glass community here.
Lampwork beadmakers are the forerunners of the art bead movement, and paved the way for polymer and other mediums to follow. This is the place to find the best of them. I am lucky to be hosted by one of my favorites, my good friend Bronwen Heilman of Ghost Cow Glassworks. 
If you don’t already have plans you better get on it quick, as hotels sell out well in advance. For those of you who already know what is up…I will see you at The Best Bead Show.
The Artists of “Polymer Clay Beads”: Kathleen Dustin
It was a material “whose time had come,” and it was Kathleen who put it in front of the world when she wrote the first published article on polymer clay for Ornament Magazine in 1987. The article, titled “The Use of Polyform in Bead Making,” brought Steven Ford and David Forlano knocking at her Torpedo Factory studio door. She also met Tory Hughes, among other artists who were previously working alone and unaware of each other (this was before the internet). It was Pier Voulkos though, who Kathleen credits for being the first to really do much with polymer clay beads or the millefiori technique, and who really turned her on to the artistic potential of the clay.
Kathleen’s mastery of her craft amplifies her artistic voice, which rings clear with a keen appreciation for the depth of the human experience as well as the beauty of nature. Clearly not one to rest on her laurels, she has resisted the temptation to stick with the winning formula she found with the series of beads and purses she created which feature the figures and faces of women of the world. They range from village woman wrapped in layers of lush fabrics, to complex emotional portraiture, all lovingly treated with a bevy of patterning techniques. Combining Skinner blends, (gradient blends) millefiori canework, hand drawn image transfers, translucent clay, and much more, this work demonstrates her technical dexterity and compositional skill, weaving all into a lush and inviting visual tapestry.
While Kathleen finds great satisfaction in her artistic process, which she describes as “daydreaming” she emphasizes that is also “plain old work.” It takes perseverance and focus. Dustin, trained as a mathematician, is by nature a problem solver. She does not sit down to play with the clay so much as to solve specific design problems, to which she gives much focused thought.
“You are more creative when you have limits than you are when the world is open,” says Dustin, who advises that aspiring artists and craftspeople choose a medium and stick with it for a few years. After 28 years as a professional craftsperson, Kathleen says she is becoming more interested in mixed media. That will likely be a gradual process for Dustin, for whom form follows function, and creation follows idea. Over the years we have been treated to an artistic journey, as her transforming work mirrors the transformation in her life. Here’s to 28 more years of beauty in both. Thanks Kathleen for all your great work and for being part of my book.
Thanks to Craftcast for all of the quotes and much of the information in this article. Listen to Alison Lee interview of Kathleen here. You can check out archived interviews of polymer clay artists here, including other “Polymer Clay Beads” artists Celie Fago and Elise Winters.
Kathleen will be the Keynote speaker at Synergy, the upcoming conference of the National Polymer Clay guild, where her topic will be the development of polymer as a fine art medium. The conference which will take place in Baltimore Feb 21-23, 2008, runs concurrently with the American Craft Show, where Kathleen will be exhibiting her work alongside 700 of the nation’s finest craft artists. Hmmm Synergy. That sounds fun. Maybe I can still get out there…
The next step for the advancement of polymer clay as a significant medium is for museum quality work to be recognized as such, and Kathleen is right on top of that. She has been chosen by the Fuller Craft Museum near Boston to curate a show focusing on polymer as a sculptural medium, due to run from August to November, 2009. I believe that this will be the second museum show to focus on polymer, the first being that held at the Kentucky Museum of Art and Design, which took place in March and April of 2004, and in which I was honored to be invited to participate. The upcoming show will be focused more exclusively on sculptural polymer installations and promises to be groundbreaking.
You can see more of Kathleen Dustin’s work on her website and track her latest information on her blog. She has also been writing for Elise Winter’s excellent Polymer Art Archive.
Thanks for reading and stay tuned for further posts about the artists of “Polymer Clay Beads: Techniques, Projects, Inspiration.”